neighborhood news
Igniting Economic Development in Ward 7 Who Is Best Prepared to Take Wards 7 & 8 to the Next Stage? by Jonetta Rose Barras
Vincent Gray and Yvette Alexander at the ribbon-cutting of Rays the Steak which opened to great fanfare in Ward 7 in April 2010 and closed two and a half years later.
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ith each local election for the past decade residents in Ward 7 have loudly demanded economic development. Yet according to Paul Savage, a long-time community leader, the top two candidates in the June 14 Democratic primary election for the DC Council – incumbent Yvette Alexander and challenger and former mayor Vincent C. Gray – “have done very little to provide leadership to get economic development in Ward 7.” “We’ve been left standing when the rest of the city – from Ward 1 through 6 – is being developed,” adds Savage, a resident of the Hillcrest neighborhood and one of those who helped draft Anthony A. Williams for mayor in 1998. How difficult is it to bring fine dining restaurants, boutique shops, a fullservice, quality supermarket, and other businesses east of the river? Not difficult at all if the government invests strategically, according to Stan Jackson, director of the Anacostia Economic Development Corpo-
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ration and a former deputy mayor for planning and economic development under Williams. “If the approach is holistic and implemented in a thoughtful way, you can stimulate assets to achieve a win-win proposition,” says Jackson. He cites development along U Street NW, H Street NE, and in NoMa as examples of economic development that happens when the government makes “focused investments and [when] resources were committed over a sustained period. What we see now in those corridors is the marketplace has exploded.” Neither H Street nor any of the corridors mentioned by Jackson were overnight wonders. Mayor Marion Barry employed construction of
the Frank Reeves Municipal Center, not just as recognition of the work of a civil rights leader, but also to help support small businesses along 14th and U streets through lean times brought by riots and Metro construction. Development is the long game. Sometimes people see progress, like what occurred downtown, for example, and “don’t realize it’s been in the making for a while,” says Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexander. Under Mayor Adrian M. Fenty the city rebuilt H Street NE from the Hopscotch Bridge to the Starburst Intersection. It was a very complicated and expensive investment designed to create the environment to fuel economic growth. The construction’s long duration devastated existing businesses. Former Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells, working with H Street Main Street’s Anwar Saleem, fought for tax forgiveness for small businesses along that corridor and funding for a shuttle bus to help bring in potential customers. City subsidies helped legacy businesses survive and prosper. Now H Street is thriving. Developers are flocking to build supermarkets and condos. H Street, however, was not the city’s heaviest lift. It took three mayors – Williams, Fenty, and Gray – to finally realize City Center, the hip retail destination located on H Street NW between Ninth and 11th Streets. Savage and other Ward 7 residents understand the work that goes into producing change. They began working during the Williams administration, believing they were on the road to success. “Pennsylvania Avenue, from 23rd Street, was the first street to be designated a ‘Great Street,’” points out Savage. “We had a plan that was put together by us, by the residents. We have been ill-served from a political standpoint by those elected to represent us and by others on the council,” he adds bitterly.
Old-Fashioned Hustle The dissatisfaction of Ward 7 residents is understandable, particularly since experts who spoke